June 28, 2012

I am so excited to share with you an interview I did with Eric Allen, the 3D developer of the new animated graphic novel, Bottom of the Ninth. Have you heard of this? It looks Absolutely Amazing!! Incredible art, coupled with animation, humor, and a story about a heroic girl all wrapped into a graphic novel. You have got to see this. To get you all excited about it here's the trailer:

Crazy, cool, right?

Great, on to the interview with Eric.

How would you describe this animated graphic novel, Bottom of the Ninth?

It is a new way to read and enjoy a variety of mediums in one setting. You get the fun of a comic with word bubble that are read to you. You also get animated panels on each page. The comic seems to live because of these effects. In addition to this, you can click on other panels and they will play an animated short of the scene. All of this really creates a world that pulls you in. It is easy to immerse yourself into this book and feel the emotions that the characters are going through. The interactivity makes you feel like you are there with the characters.

What sets this graphic novel apart from others you can read on i-pads?

As far as we know it is the first of its kind so there are not really any others to compare against. There are interactive books and other media, but we think this is the first interactive comic made for IOS devices. It is basically a short film that is wrapped within a comic. There are easter eggs all over to find. Ryan Woodward is the creator and producer of this comic and most of the credit really goes to him. He is an extremely talented artist and very humble about his abilities. He commissioned 5 or so artists including myself to create the app with him.

Would non-baseball fans enjoy this read?

Most anyone would easily enjoy this interactive graphic novel. Kids will either be drawn to the baseball or the female lead character. Adults will love the interactivity as well as the educational value of having an entertaining book that reads along with you.

Tell us a bit about the lead character, Candy Cunningham.

This is really the story of Candy Cunningham and the world she lives in. Set 200 years in the future, gravity modification has warped the way we play baseball. We follow Candy on her struggle to become who she was meant to be. Stereotypes and judgements about her ability play with her mind as she struggles to prove herself in this intimidating world.

When did this project start?

The concept was thought of in 2005. We began production in January 2012

How long did it take to complete?

We finished up all of the development for it in the beginning of June 2012. So that is roughly 5 months.

What was your contribution?

I was the 3D developer in charge of creating the 3D world. The awesome Paul Gerla was hired in Feb/March to assist as the production was ramping up. The 3D world was growing at a pace that we needed two artists dedicated to it. I built and textured roughly 90% of the models. I also helped a little with the motion graphics at the end of the production process.

(@llie here: My son loves this fan guy.)

Tell us one of your favorite parts or scenes.

I love the panel where Candy is ready to pitch into the batter box and it is lit up. Ryan wanted this to be so overwhelming and distracting that it would seem almost impossible to focus while pitching. I helped with some of the motion graphics for this shot and I think we all made this really show his vision. I also love any of the stadium shots. Overall, pages 7, 10 and 12. are my personal favorites. I am a little biased though.

What influence do you think this graphic novel will have on those in the future?

I hope that it ushers in a new medium. I love the amount of craft that went into this app in all levels of the production. Somehow, we had time to make this really look nice. Ryan's attention to detail made this comic what it is. He is truly a stellar artist.

How can we view/purchase Bottom of the Ninth?

Ryan woodwards "Bottom of the Ninth" app is only $0.99 USD in the Itunes store.

June 6, 2012

"One day?" you ask, "That seems to be cutting it a bit short. Why would you leave yourself so little time?"

Well, friends...I had planned on a birthday party for my big 6 year old to be a lovely outside pool party. It was going to be really fun, really wet, and really easy.

The whole week before the party I kept looking at the forecast. It was 95* when I sent out the party invitations. However, as the time got closer I could see it was becoming very clear that this water party was not going to be in the cards with 60* weather, raining and windy like crazy.

So the day before the party I got BUSY with plan B.

I checked out the good old pinterest and conferred with the six year old and we decided together to plan a quick Angry Birds Party!

So we planned out 4 games:

1. Life-sized Angry Birds Game.

We had to make a life-sized Angry Birds Game.

I started with the balls. I had spent two days that week looking around at Toys-R-Us; so I knew they had these great balls that would be perfect for my game. They were only $1.99 each. Score! I grabbed three.

Here's how I made my angry birds and king piggie balls:

All done. The balls turned out just as I had planned and they were really easy.

(Ps. I took these pictures, below, two weeks after I made them...so they're a little worse for the wear.)

What's that birdies?

We'll be moving soon so we've been saving boxes for weeks now. So that made an easy way to set them up and make piggie towers from.

We scored the game as follows:

Knock down a box: 1 point

Knock down a piggie: 10 points

Knock down the King Piggie: 20 points.

The kids remembered their own scores.

We planned on playing out on the grass....but them it started getting super windy and then raining, so we moved under the cover of the garage.

2. Angry Bird Tag.

Um...we didn't exactly play this game (Hello! It was raining-- Darn weather). But, if we had it would have been really fun and have gone like this. I made tons of balloons with birdie or piggie faces drawn really quickly on them. I would have divided the party goers into two teams-- Piggie team and Birdie team, holding their balloons. The birdies chase the piggies. If a piggie gets tagged he has to sit down until all the piggies are tagged.

3. Piggie Stomp!

After tag I planned on all the kids sitting around on the grass and letting them stomp on the piggies until they popped. (This activity was postponed- due to weather too).

4. Angry Bird Flipper!

Thankfully I had planned this nice indoor activity, since being outside was no longer an option. Basically I brought those pom-pom balls, googlie eyes, construction paper, string, and glue and let the kids make their own angry bird or piggie.

Look what they came up with!

One piggie was given his own lego ship-- lucky piggie.- Ha, ha.

After they were made we had everyone flip their birds, trying to get that King Piggie.

5. Angry Bird Cake

My new favorite way to make cakes is to cook them in two round pans and then have fun frosting them.

My son mentioned he wanted the cake to have an oreo frosting. So I crushed up some oreos and mixed it in with the frosting for the inside layer and the sides of the cake. It was yummy.

June 4, 2012

A while ago I shared this post with U Create. So I thought I'd repost it here, too.

Today I'm so excited to share a tutorial of how to turn your traditional bow tie into a velcro- easy to use bow tie.

What inspired me? Well, I excitedly made my boys bow ties from this tutorial (but I made them smaller and shorter)...a week later, I could Not figure out how to tie them...so Easter day they went in their normal church ties. I knew something had to be done.

Enter this Project.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. Traditional Bow ties

2. Velcro

3. Normal Sewing material

STEP ONE: Fold bow onto self and pin. Cut bows off the tie.

STEP TWO: Make a pleat with the top piece of the bow and sew down. Repeat for other side.

STEP THREE: Place the bow together, facing each other and sew together.

STEP FOUR: Now we're making the loop to go over the bow.
Cut out a rectangle (about 4" x 3"), fold in half and sew.
Flip inside out (I like to use crochet hooks) and press.

STEP FIVE: Fold in half and sew together.
Pull bow inside loop.

STEP SIX: Cut out velcro pieces (about an inch long).
Place velcro on the bow tie end, fold ends in, and sew in place.
Trim off any extra velcro that may be sticking out.
Repeat on the other side, on the other end.